In the Villages of San Pedro

July 17, 2011
We finally made it to the Dominican! Despite all of the security checks, TSA, and airports, we have arrived to SCORE International-Juan Dolio where we will stay for the next week! We were so blessed to be switched to the AIR CONDITIONED campus- free of CHARGE! Praise the Lord! The whole team is settling in and we are ready for God to do BIG things this week! Continue to pray for our safety, health and the salvation of those we love on! More to come soon!

July 18, 2011
We left the complex this morning with intentions of loving the people of the villages we would visit; not with our own love, but with the powerful-life changing love of Jesus. We spent our day at two different villages playing games, teaching the truths of His Word, singing songs, and doing crafts with the precious children. The kids were craving attention and love. The Lord poured out through our lives and allowed us to take a sweet hand, give some piggy-back rides, and lavish the love of Christ on His little ones.

July 19, 2011

Wow. What an amazing day! God has been so good to us. As we drove up to the first village the children all lined the path waving us into the field. They were so excited to see us again! We piled out of the bus and began to love on the children. The relationships that we began the day before only grew stronger as the day progressed. We played jump rope, volleyball, soccer and took tons of pictures-which to the kids is just as fun as some of the games! About an hour after we arrived, it began to rain, so we all ran to the shelter to begin the Bible study. The kids listened much better today and were much more organized during the craft. Our confidence in our own Spanish abilities grew, so we were able to communicate on a much better level.

As we entered the second village, we opened the back curtain of the van to see some of the excited children running behind us! The second village is much smaller and more difficult to get the kids involved. One little boy in specific, Achocho, was very withdrawn and timid. He would sit alone and only play with a few of the other kids. Today, he became interested in one of our girls and wouldn’t let her hand go. As we were leaving, she had to say goodbye and he threw a fit. Relationships like these make ministry much harder, but completely worth it. God has been so gracious to our group and we pray that He continues to do a work in us for the remainder of the week!

Thanks for your prayers!
-Mads